Look Up, You're Surrounded

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles. And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” –2 Chronicles 32:7-8, ESV

During my study, this passage gave me pause: “More with us.” Some translations use “stronger” or “greater,” and the LORD alone is brought to attention. Certainly, it is the LORD who first and foremost brings victory (Pro 21:31), and no one or nothing else more is required. Furthermore, in the end, we don’t see a multitude winning the battle; rather, during the night “the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king,” (2Ch 32:21)—about 186,000 men (see 2Ki 19:35). Now THAT is power. God needs no army. He wins the battle by Himself (2Ki 19:35 indicates “the angel of the LORD,” who many believe is the pre-incarnate Son of God).

Yet is there something else to be gleaned from this passage? Is there something to the phrase, “more with us”?

I was then brought to another passage where the king of Syria sent a sizable army against Elisha (2Ki 6:13-14), after being made aware that the prophet had been sharing his secret plans with the king of Israel (2Ki 6:12). So early the next morning, a terrified servant awakens to find an army surrounding the city of Dothan where they were staying (2Ki 6:15). Yet Elisha remains unfazed, and responds to his servant “Don’t be afraid, for our side outnumbers them,” (2Ki 6:16). Elisha then asks God to open his servant’s eyes, and the man becomes suddenly aware of an even greater army with “horses and chariots of fire” on the hill surrounding them all (2Ki 6:17).

Yet this army does not spring into action or attack. God blinds the opposing army at Elisha’s request and the whole enemy horde is complicitly escorted and delivered into Israel’s hands (2Ki 6:18-20) (NOTE: for them to show mercy, see 2Ki 6:22-23; Mat 9:13).

Then my mind was brought to God’s chosen king David slaying Goliath (1Sa 17:50-51), crushing the head of the blasphemous serpent (a foreshadowing of Christ in Gen 3:15; consider the giant’s scale armor in 1Sa 17:5 and how David interprets the event in 1Sa 17:45). Yet even though his triumph needed no assistance, consider the timid army behind him (1Sa 17:24) that was emboldened by his victory and charged forth to chase and plunder a defeated enemy (1Sa 17:52-53). The army is still a part of the story.

“Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called ‘Faithful’ and ‘True,’ and with justice he judges and goes to war. His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses.” –Revelation 19:11-14, NET

And what about when the Son of God is to go to war in the end? It says he will ride on a white horse, wearing clothes dipped in blood and many diadem crowns upon his head. He rides forth with eyes aflame with fire, a tattoo of sovereignty upon his thigh, and a sword protruding from his mouth with which he demolishes the opposing force—no assistance needed (Rev 19:11-16, 21). Yet who do we see riding victoriously behind this mighty King? “The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses,” (Rev 19:14). 

Piecing together other clues within the text, I think we can say that this is not an army of angels, but an assembly of saints. It is the Bride of the Lamb who follows her triumphant King (see Rev 3:5, 19; 7:9,13; 19:8) and proclaims the victory He won for her (2Co 2:14).

“Okay,” one might say. “So what?” Why is it important for us to know this? What deeper things are we meant to “see” with eyes of faith?

And my ears happened upon a song by the band Disciple, the message striking me in a new and profound way.

Waking up with smoke inside your lungs
Rising embers blotting out the sun
Your entire world is burning up
Look up you're surrounded…
Here we are to your right and to your left
We're all breathing the same breath
We will stand, we will fight unto the death
Look up you're surrounded
You're surrounded by the One
Can you feel it when the heart starts beating?
Can you feel it when the body starts breathing?
No one's gonna face this fight alone
We bleed one for all, we bleed all for one
Can you feel it when the wall starts breaking?
Can you feel it when the heavens start shaking?
You won't ever face this fight alone
We bleed one for all, we bleed all for one
One heart, one Spirit, one Body
One flame, one fire that started
By one death, one life,
One God we're praying to tonight.
(Disciple, “The One”)

Your entire world is burning up

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” –Romans 1:18-19, NET

This is the state of the world around us, burning under the consuming flames of a God in pursuit (Heb 12:29), on fire by the revealed wrath of our holy LORD because of their suppression of the truth (Rom 1:18-25). And because the world is at enmity with this God of truth (Jam 4:4), those who proclaim the Truth are hated as HE is hated (Joh 15:18-19).

See these fabulous illustrations above written for our encouragement (Rom 15:4), which depict the world coming against God’s people to destroy them, angry at Him who would stand against their wicked desires (Psa 2:1-3; Joh 3:19). So it should be no surprise that they will come against us through persecution, imprisonment, and even death (Luk 21:12-17). This is not a possibility, but a promise if we are rightly pursuing Christ (Joh 15:20; 1Th 3:2; 2Ti 3:12).

Yet, if we have eyes to see, then we will see that no one’s gonna face the fight alone.

You’re surrounded by the One

The Body is One (1Co 12:20). And not just within temporal and geographic limits, but is composed of the entire assembly of saints throughout history—every spiritual “pillar” (Rev 3:12) and “stone” (1Pe 2:5), from “every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Rev 7:9). We are united “SO THAT together” we lift up “one voice” to glorify God (Rom 15:6). We are the triumphant procession (2Co 2:14) that praises His name as He fights on behalf of His people (ex: 2Ch 20:22). And so it is imperative that we look up and see this One, for the sake of “encouragement” and “endurance” (Rom 15:4-5).

In a sense, unity is something we strive towards (Eph 4:13). Yet it is also a reality. Consider the “powerful and effective” (Jam 5:16) prayer of unity (John 17:20-23) by our great High Priest Jesus (Heb 10:19-22). Christ is not divided (1Co 1:13)—His house will stand forever (Mark 3:25; 2Co 5:1). Christ has finished (notice the past tense) the work and “raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms” (Eph 2:6). All the walls of hostility between God’s children have been demolished (Eph 2:14-16), and we are now being “built” and “joined together” into “a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:19-22).

“[Jesus said,] I am not praying only on [the disciple’s] behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.” –John 17:20-23, NET

While there is a reality not yet realized, it is imperative that we believe all of God’s revealed promises, seeing them in the distance with eyes of faith (Heb 11:13). Unity is critical to our mission as witnesses (John 17:23). For oneness advances the kingdom by manifesting Christ more fully. We are the united Body (Rom 12:5) that bleeds one for all, “suffering” and “rejoicing” as one (1Co 12:26). We are the collective Body, standing to your right and to your left, breathing the same breath (Eze 37:9; Job 32:8).

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” –Hebrews 12:1-2a, NET

Hebrews 12 comes right after 11, which ends with the saints and martyrs that came before us and suffered much for their faith, “the world was not worthy of them.” And as I consider the many books I’ve read, outside of the scriptures, the most impactful and holy books are not the language-rich, award-winning novels, or the engaging narratives, or the instructive handbooks chock-full of practical wisdom on parenting, leadership, or money. Rather, the most impactful words come from the great saints and martyrs who have suffered much, encouraging me to find life (Joh 11:25) by loosening my hold on this one (Mar 8:34-35).

If there is anything I need beyond scripture, it is just as Hebrews 11 describes: testimonies of those who have been “tortured,” who have “experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment,” men and women who have been “stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword,” all “to obtain resurrection to a better life,” (Heb 11:35-37; Luke 21:18-19, Rom 2:6). They are those that did not just love in word, but in deed and truth (1Jo 3:18), bearing witness to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Phi 3:8). They “suffered in the flesh” and armed themselves “with the same attitude” that Christ did in the face of opposition, and thus spent the rest of their lives on earth “concerned about the will of God and not human desires” (1Pe 4:1-2). Through suffering, they demonstrated mercy to others (Mat 5:7; 9:13), seeking perfection by emulating a perfect Father, loving their enemies (Mat 5:44-48), overcoming the opposition by “the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev 12:11).

Saints like Amy Carmichael, George Muller, Katie Davis, Jackie Hill Perry, Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, Samuel Morris, Joni Erickson Tada, Corrie Ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Richard Wurmbrand, Perpetua, and the list goes on. These are the saints among “the great cloud of witnesses” that God uses with transformative power to encourage my faith and strengthen my endurance as I rid myself of every sinful weight. It is by their testimony that I gain mine, ready to lose everything in this world (Mat 13:44-46) for the sake of the promised rewards in the next (Mat 19:29).

“We need their testimonies of courage, love, and hope in the face of beatings, imprisonment, and death. We need them to challenge us to a deeper commitment to Christ, in the great commission that he has called us to fulfill no matter the cost.” (Wurmbrand: Tortured for Christ—the Complete Story).

Can you feel it?

But do we feel it? Do we sense the Blood of Christ coursing through our midst, making us one (Eph 2:13-14)? Do we sense the breath of the Spirit (Joh 20:22), which unites us in language and life (Act 2:1-4, 42-47)? Do we see the spiritual fortifications of our enemy crumbling (Mat 16:18) at the sound of our corporate praise (Jos 6:20; Rom 15:6), a reminder of God’s promise of inheritance (1Co 16:17-18; Mat 5:5)? Do we see the rumblings of the high thrones of earthly kingdoms being shaken to the ground (Isa 13:13; Hag 2:22)—while the One people of God alone remain standing (Joe 3:16; Rev 6:16-17; 7:3,9-10)?

If we do not, if we cannot see with eyes of faith, what is the solution?

What did Elisha do for his servant? He prayed (2Ki 6:17).

One God we’re praying to tonight

Do we? I was so impacted by Sabina and Richard Wurmbrand’s testimony of how they drew strength in communist prisons, knowing there were “brothers and sisters in the west praying for them.” They saw they were surrounded.

But do we?

“In prison, I saw men with 50-pound chains at their feet praying for America. But in America, you seldom hear in a church a prayer for those in chains in communist prisons,” (Richard Wurmbrand).

Though the invisible force may not attack or come to our rescue, there is immense courage given to the one whose eyes are open to see this greater number that surrounds us. For we are to “spur one another on to love and good works” (Heb 10:24-25), encouraging one another in the hope of this great truth (1Th 4:16-18): that we are preparing for the day we ride forth as one force behind our King unto complete victory (Rev 19:11-16). So until then, it is imperative that we look up and see what surrounds us: the great throng that bleeds and breaths as one.

O LORD, bring us to our knees in fervent request for eyes of faith to see the army of heaven!

Bleed one for all

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” –Hebrews 12:1-2a, NET

But let us not just “see,” but obediently bleed for the One. See the race and the prize set before us, and our need to be “single-minded” in our reach and pursuit (Phi 3:13-14). We MUST exercise “self-control in everything,” running “to win” as we reach for an “imperishable crown,” (1Co 9:24-25). It is therefore imperative we run with endurance, shedding EVERY “weight of sin” that hinders our ability to keep pace with Christ. Do you not see that others are watching and need our encouraging testimony of triumph?

So let’s get to work. Day and night. Night and day. No days off. We train for eternity. Study to show thyself approved (2Ti 2:15), being ever before the scriptures (Psa 1:2), peering out the great window of God’s revelation of Himself so that we keep our eyes ever fixed upon Him.